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Friday, January 6, 2012

Rick Santorum spoke at length about his views on climate change while responding to a voter's question at a January 4, 2012 town hall meeting in Belmont, NH.

His comments were caught on video by C-Span:

Transcript of Rick Santorum's climate change talk in Belmont, NH:

Voter: I was wondering how you’ve integrated your financial
policies with the findings of current climate change science.

Rick Santorum: The question is on how do I get my policies
with climate change science.

I get asked this question a lot, and you look at the data
and you can see some change in the climate.

But then again, pick a point in history where you haven’t
seen a change in the climate.

The climate does change.

The question is, what is causing the climate to change.

And I think most scientists, in fact, I assume all
scientists would agree there are a variety of factors that cause the climate
change.

I don’t think any scientist in the world would suggest there
isn’t a variety of factors, and I think the vast majority of scientists would
say there’s probably a hundred factors that cause the climate to change.

And so why have we decided that this one particular factor,
carbon dioxide, is in fact that tip of the tail that wags the entire dog.

Why from a scientific point of view do we make the assertion
that this is in fact what is the case when there is a whole lot of other
factors out there that could be affecting it?

So, that’s the question.

Some people have very strong feelings that it is that.

There are a lot of other people who don’t.

Here’s the question.

Let’s even assume, for purposes of argument, not that I
agree with it, but for purposes of argument, that they are right.

Then what would be a rational response?

Well, if you have a problem and you want to craft something,
what should that thing that you’re crafting do?

Solve the problem.

Do any of the proposed solutions put forward by Al Gore and
his friends do anything to solve the problem?

Even the scientists who support the theory will admit to you
that it doesn’t do anything to solve the problem.

So query, why support the solution, other than you may have
some other agenda that may be in place here.

Right?

And let’s go back to what that agenda is.

There’s a common theme that you should be hearing here.

They don’t trust you to allocate resources in a way that
they believe is best, and so they want to have a system that forces you to do
what they think you should do in running your business and your lives.

Rick Santorum may want to pay a visit to the EPA website, where he will learn that scientists and policy makers have identified a number major greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere by human activities, including methane, nitrous oxide, and flourinated gases.

But when working, good scientists draw conclusions based on the evidence. When they're done, their findings are double- and triple-checked by "peer review" (other scientists) and national assessments (National Academy of Sciences).

On climate, every National Academy in the world has confirmed that climate change is occurring, largely due to human activity, and will have dire consequences if we continue this way.

Yea, what do scientists know. Exactly why I say we should do away with education completely. Those nerds just think they know what they are talking about. All that studying nonsense. Go SANTORUM! Say no to education and scientists!

Santorum and the others do not want to admit the truth that they must know in their heart of hearts: we have been affecting the planet for some time now (through emitting both cooling sulfate aerosols and warming greenhouse gases) -- with the warming winning. 2000s hotter than 1990s; 1990 hotter than 1980s; 1980s hotter than 1970s; 1970s hotter than 1960s...

Santorum et al. just cannot admit they know this because it has been made politically uncomfortable for them -- they have to toe the party line. Of course, the party will regret taking this line.

Turns out that yesterday (Jan 12, 2012) a leading climate scientist (and anthropogenic change advocate) on NPR was saying that we need to leave CO2 alone for now and concentrate on the "stronger" and more elemental climate change agents of soot and other particulates -- and that all the CO2 reduction in the world would not reduce climate change for decades. Santorum may be a doofus, but he was right.

Hey; seeing as these politicians are so confused by climate change and seeing as the electorate seem to be similarly challenged, why don't we listen to the scientists at NASA? After all aren't they paid to get their heads round this subject and advise the politicians? If we can't trust them to tell us the facts, who can we trust? Certainly not Mr Santorum. http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

Rick Santorum talk about climate change is very informative. Pleased to find out video and transcription version of that conversation. To study properly such thing will be handy for me. Thanks.quotes on change

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About Me

A lifelong political junkie, I have been blogging about New Hampshire's First-in-the-Nation presidential primary since 2007. My coverage has been cited by the national media, including CBS News and The Wall Street Journal. David holds a MA in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire.